Couple of movies that I do not recommend.
Mar. 23rd, 2024 12:06 amCouple of movies that I do not recommend.
45 Years, director Andrew Haigh, streaming with ads on one of the free services.
I like this director's other work but this film felt like it was 45 years long. It's about 2 long-married white British people whose relationship is not so great. I did not care about them. I think this falls into the "family drama" genre, which is vehemently not my genre because I don't understand the and the people all seem unpleasant.
The Impossible, 2012, Netflix.
More white British people: This film has been rightly criticized among my circles for making a story about a devastating natural disaster in Thailand center on a white tourist family. I was curious because of my interest in survival and disaster narratives and how this film fits into the genre. I agree that this film is racist and classist-- it's so enraging when the reunited family, at the end, leave an over-taxed Thai hospital, get on a private plane to head to a hospital in Singapore... and there are empty seats on that plane. Like some other films in this genre, the plot reinforces the idea of the nuclear family as the central organizing principle of society. The best movies about disaster have a stronger message, one about collective care and helping strangers. There is a moment or 3 in "the Impossible" that get at this-- ones where the mom instructs her son to help others, "even if it's the last thing we do." But this message of helping others gets a bit lost as the mother gets more ill. It seems she is that force in this family.
What I will say in favor of this movie is that it is very respectful in the portrayal of children. Tom Holland plays Lucas, the eldest kid, and he does a great job with it.
45 Years, director Andrew Haigh, streaming with ads on one of the free services.
I like this director's other work but this film felt like it was 45 years long. It's about 2 long-married white British people whose relationship is not so great. I did not care about them. I think this falls into the "family drama" genre, which is vehemently not my genre because I don't understand the and the people all seem unpleasant.
The Impossible, 2012, Netflix.
More white British people: This film has been rightly criticized among my circles for making a story about a devastating natural disaster in Thailand center on a white tourist family. I was curious because of my interest in survival and disaster narratives and how this film fits into the genre. I agree that this film is racist and classist-- it's so enraging when the reunited family, at the end, leave an over-taxed Thai hospital, get on a private plane to head to a hospital in Singapore... and there are empty seats on that plane. Like some other films in this genre, the plot reinforces the idea of the nuclear family as the central organizing principle of society. The best movies about disaster have a stronger message, one about collective care and helping strangers. There is a moment or 3 in "the Impossible" that get at this-- ones where the mom instructs her son to help others, "even if it's the last thing we do." But this message of helping others gets a bit lost as the mother gets more ill. It seems she is that force in this family.
What I will say in favor of this movie is that it is very respectful in the portrayal of children. Tom Holland plays Lucas, the eldest kid, and he does a great job with it.